Illegitimate son of American toymaker W.W. Wiggins*,
Australian-born George Harkness was a troubled teenager always getting into scrapes with the law.
His presumed father had always resented him because of his mother’s affair with Wiggins, and after
one of George’s capers led to a particularly nasty family fight, his mother sent him to the
United States, arranging with Wiggins to give him a job in Central City.
“Captain Boomerang” was created as a promotional gimmick for Wiggins’ toy company.

One day, after a particularly lousy performance, Boomerang tried to pick someone’s pocket.
He was spotted by the Flash, but Digger threw a boomerang at him and
flattened him. Realizing what he could do, he began a criminal career as Captain Boomerang,
using both regular and gimmicked boomerangs for ever more spectacular crimes.

Suicide Squad

For a time, Boomerang worked with the Suicide Squad, a secret government organization
employing convicted super-villains for extremely hazardous missions. Rebellious and
insubordinate, he was never a model team member, and even briefly borrowed
Mirror Master’s costume to continue his criminal career in
secret. During this time on the Squad he returned home briefly and learned that Wiggins
was his real father.

Hell and Back

Disgusted with his life, he jumped when Abra Kadabra brought him and
four other Rogues an offer that would bring them respect. Kadabra did not tell them
that their fame would cost their lives. Their deaths unleashed the demon
Neron upon Earth (Underworld Unleashed #1, 1995). Neron continued to
use him after his death, sending the Rogues’ bodies to Earth without their souls. With vastly enhanced powers and
even more powerful avatars, they killed thousands before the Flash forced Neron to halt the destruction
and return the Rogues’ souls to their bodies (Flash #127–129, “Hell to Pay,” 1997).

Captain Boomerang, like his fellow Rogues, returned to his life of crime, though for a time he was concerned
with protecting himself from Neron. His experience in Hell did not seem to change him much,
but near-fatal injuries at the hands of the Dark Flash
(Flash Secret Files #2, 1999) embittered him. He declared revenge on the latest super-speedster,
and created the living weapon Replicant. Only his exposure to Joker venom
healed him (Flash #179, 2001), and even then he disappeared from public view.

Family

Early in his criminal career, Harkness was stranded in the distant future where he met Meloni Thawne (“Rogue War”). The nature of their relationship has not been revealed, nor has his return to the present day, but he brought their son Owen back with him and gave the child up for adoption.

Years later, while attempting a comeback, Boomerang also tracked down his long-lost son. Shortly after they began reconnecting, he took a job to kill Jack Drake. At this time, several heroes’ loved ones had been killed or attacked. Drake was warned, and given a loaded gun just as Boomerang arrived at his apartment.
As Harkness burst through the door, the two men killed each other (Identity Crisis #5, 2004).

Return

Captain Boomerang’s corpse was animated by a Black Lantern ring during the Blackest Night. It convinced Owen that he could be brought back if he only ate enough people. In the end, the Rogues found out what they had been doing, and tossed Owen into the pit, where the Black Lantern boomerang ripped his heart out. (Blackest Night: The Flash, 2010)

Digger himself was brought back to life by the power of the white light, physically back in his prime (Blackest Night #8, 2010). His experience left him with an unexpected bonus: he can now create exploding boomerangs as Black Lantern constructs.

* Originally, W.W. Wiggins and Digger Harkness were not related. Harkness had simply arrived in Central City shortly before Wiggins prepared the boomerang promotion. In Flash #227 (1974), Captain Boomerang’s father is introduced as petty crook “Aussie” Green. Digger gets along well with his father, who encourages his son and even keeps a scrapbook of his exploits. (Thanks to Omar Karindu for reminding me of this story.)

The 1980s Suicide Squad, which featured Captain Boomerang as a regular, changed his backstory to make Wiggins his illegitimate father. Boomerang’s origin is retold in Suicide Squad #44 (1990).

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